Life Changing Moment
by TotalCSIfan
Summary: A simple errand very well might change Jackie's life as she knows it. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI

Life Changing Moment

Jackie had gone into her classroom to start preparing for the next school year, even though school was a month away she didn't want to wait until the last minute to start getting ready and since her friend and teaching partner Sue was also prepping at the school today Jackie thought it would be a good day to go in since she didn't like going to the school by herself.

After she was finished at the school Jackie decided to stop at the mall and grab a couple of pizzas for lunch since she had a coupon for a pizza joint in the mall that was about to expire. After getting the pizzas Jackie was walking back to her van when something sparkly on the cement caught her eye. Jackie bent over to see what it was and noticed it was an absolutely beautiful engagement ring. It looked like it cost a fortune.

"_Wow whoever lost this must be devastated." _Jackie thought to herself.

Jackie had once lost her own wedding ring, and she'd been frantic, she'd taken it off while she was pregnant so the ring wouldn't get stuck on her swollen fingers. She had found it in a drawer in her jewelry box, she had just accidently put it in a different drawer then the one she normally kept it in when she wasn't wearing it and hadn't realized it, but until she found it she was heartbroken.

Jackie wasn't sure where she should turn the ring in at, the mall didn't have a lost and found and since there were so many stores in the mall she wasn't sure where she should take it. She ultimately decided to take it home and ask Nick what he thought she should do with it, she just wanted whoever lost it to be able to get it back.

"Nick look at this." She told him as she walked into her house.

"Who gave you that, obviously someone who has a lot more money than I do." He quipped.

"I found it in the mall parking lot, I wasn't sure where to take it, what do you think I should do with it?" She asked.

Nick thought for a minute.

"We could put a notice in the paper, saying we found an engagement ring in the mall parking lot, if someone calls about it we could have them describe what it looks like so we know they are the rightful owner." Nick suggested.

"That is a great idea." Jackie said.

Nick and Jackie then went down to the office building the paper written at and placed the notice.

Nick told the paper to put his cell phone number on the notice instead of the house phone number just as precaution to Jackie and the kids, he didn't want some weirdo coming to their house looking for expensive jewelry in the middle of the night, especially because he worked nights and Jackie was home alone with the kids.

The very next day the paper ran the notice and that very afternoon a woman called about it, she like Jackie had suspected she would be, was completely frantic.

She described the ring perfectly.

Nick was confident that it was the rightful owner but just to be on the safe side he set up a meeting for the woman to meet him at the lab at 8:30 the next morning to pick up the ring.

That night when Nick went into work he put the ring safely in his locker and then started his shift.

At 8:30 the next morning a woman walked into the lab. The secretary greeted her with a smile.

"Hi, I have an appointment with Nick." She said.

"Ok, I'll have him paged, he'll be out in just a minute." Judy (the secretary) said in a friendly voice.

"Ok thank you very much."

"You're welcome, and by the way I love your hair, that color looks great on you." Judy said.

"Thank you." The woman said, finding the friendly lady's compliment sort of odd.

When Nick got the page he knew what the meeting was about so he went to his locker and retrieved the ring and then went out to meet his visitor, but when he walked into the lobby and saw the woman his mouth literally dropped open.

TBC…

**PS I am looking for story ideas, both one shots and longer multi chapter ideas, if you have any shoot me a p.m please!**


	2. Chapter 2

Sitting in a chair patiently waiting for Nick to appear was Jackie herself, but it wasn't Jackie, her hair was dyed a light shade of red, and her hair was shorter than Jackie's, but other than that she was an exact replica of his wife.

Nick blinked a couple of times thinking he was seeing things, but when he focused his eyes nothing had changed.

"Hi you must be Nick." She said as she got up and shook his hand.

Judy stood there and watched what was going on. _"She doesn't recognize her own husband, is she drunk?" _Judy thought to herself.

"Jackie cut it out, I love the wig though, it's very cute, nice prop." He said, thinking that his wife was playing a practical joke on him.

"Excuse me? I think there has been a misunderstanding. My name is Carissa, we spoke on the phone, you found my ring, we set up a meeting for this morning so I could pick it up." The woman said with just a hint of a Minnesotan accent.

"The accent is a nice touch Jackie but I'm not falling for it." He said.

"Sir I don't know who Jackie is. Is this some sort of horrible prank? I lost my engagement ring, my wedding is in two weeks, I just want it back, you gave me hope that some incredibly nice person found it and was honest and kind enough to give it back to me but I see now that you just put a cruel ad in the paper just to get people's hopes up."

Nick was shocked, this woman had tears in her eyes, Jackie should have gone into acting because she was great at it.

"Ma'am, can I see your driver's license?" He asked.

"_I got you now Jackie. I am going to pull the best revenge prank on her_." Nick thought to himself with satisfaction.

"Sure." The lady said as she pulled out her driver's license.

Nick looked at it, _Carissa Newling _it read.

"This looks authentic." Nick blurted out.

"It is." The woman said exasperated.

Nick needed to find out what the hell was going on, he no longer believed this was a prank and it was freaking him out.

"Ma'am I have to go make a phone call, excuse me for a moment." He said.

He turned his attention to Judy who was watching this whole spectacle in shock and disbelief.

"Judy would you grab her some coffee?" Nick asked before disappearing into the locker room to make a phone call.

He sat down in front of his locker and grabbed his phone out of his pocket. He hurriedly dialed his wife's cell phone number.

"Hello?" Jackie answered cheerfully.

"Jackie where are you?" He asked.

"At home, it's 9 in the morning where else would I be?" Jackie said.

"Um, Jackie I need you to come down to the crime lab as fast as you can." He told her.

"Why, what's wrong? Are you alright?" She asked.

By the complete panic in her voice he knew that whatever was going on she had nothing to do with it.

"Yes I'm fine and so is everyone else, but I need you down here."

"Ok, I'll be right there." She promised as she hung up, not asking anymore questions.

While waiting for Jackie to arrive Nick returned Carissa's ring, she was so thankful, she even wept with tears of joy. Nick had convinced her to stay, he hadn't told her why, but he just asked that as a favor, and she had been so grateful for getting her ring back that she didn't even question Nick's request. Nick wanted her to stay until Jackie got down there.

Nick's head was spinning, Jackie was an only child, she'd always said that the one thing in life she's always wanted was a sibling.

As soon as Jackie could get all four kids ready she was out the door and speeding to the lab.

Nick met her and the kids at the lab door.

"What's going on?" Jackie said the second she stepped in the doorway and saw Nick standing there.

"Honey, I'm not quite sure how to tell you this exactly." Nick said as he rubbed his eyes.

"Oh my god someone died, didn't they?" Jackie asked.

"No, not exactly." He mumbled.

"Then what is it?" she asked.

"Um, do you remember how that lady was supposed to come in and get her ring back this morning, the one that you found?" He asked.

"Yes did she show up?"

"Yeah."

"Oh good, I bet she was so happy she got it back." Jackie said, happy that the rightful owner had gotten it back.

"Yeah, she was thrilled. Um sweetie, about the woman, um, how do I say this?" Nick said fumbling for the right words.

"She looks so much like you…" He began but stopped.

"Oh was she short too?" Jackie quipped, clearly not understanding.

"No, well yes, but Jacks when I say she looks like you, I mean exactly, I think she might be your twin." He told her and then waited for her reaction.

"Well just don't, you know, sleep with her." Jackie whispered with a grin, clearly thinking Nick was exaggerating.

"No honey, I mean seriously, I swear to you, I think you have a twin sister."

Jackie looked at him and burst out laughing.

"What sort of chemicals did you get in to at work last night Nicky?"

"Here come see for yourself." Nick said as he grabbed Karlie's car seat out of her hand, just in case she was so shocked she accidently dropped her.

He led Jackie and the kids over to where Carissa still sat patiently on a chair. When the two women saw each other their mouths dropped open…..


	3. Chapter 3

"What the hell is going on here?" Jackie blurted.

"I'm not sure." Nick admitted.

"Nick, if this is a joke you've taken it too far." Jackie said as tears started to well in her eyes.

"I had nothing to do with this, I was as shocked as you are."

"I don't think that's possible." Jackie replied.

"Who are you?" Carissa asked Jackie, her face looked like she was looking at a ghost as well.

"My head is spinning." was Jackie's reply.

"Mine is too, what is going on here, I simply came here today to pick up my engagement ring, do you two know each other?" Carissa asked as she nodded her head towards both Nick and Jackie.

"Yes, we're married. I'm the one that found a ring, your ring. We simply placed an ad in the paper, trying to locate the correct owner but we didn't want strangers to know we had an expensive piece of jewelry at our house and we didn't want strangers coming to our house because we didn't want them around our children. That's why in the ad we put my husband's cell phone number instead of our house number and that's why we had you meet Nick here instead of at our house." Jackie told her.

The adults involved in the situation weren't the only ones confused, Jasmine, Houston, and Johnna looked from Jackie to Carissa as if they were seeing double.

"Mama." Jasmine pointed at Jackie, then she pointed at Carissa "Mama." She said again. Then a big grin crossed her sweet little face "Two dem." She said happily.

Jackie nor Carissa was nearly as excited as the little girl, they were both just very, very confused.

"I'm an only child." Jackie blurted.

"So am I, I was adopted but I'm an only child." Carissa said.

"Hold on a minute, you were adopted?" Jackie asked.

"Yes, were you?"

"No." Jackie replied.

"Well why would your parents have twins and then give only one of us up?" Carissa asked, clearly hurt but the realization.

"I have no idea, but there is only one way to find out." Jackie said.

She quickly got out her cell phone.

"Mom, get down to the crime lab now." Jackie snapped into the phone and then hurriedly hung up.

Jackie was angry, clearly her parents had kept a huge secret from her….


	4. Chapter 4

Jackie's parents got to the crime lab in a huge hurry, thinking that something horrible had happened to Nick but when they walked into the lab doors, they were in for a huge shock.

Their mouths hit the floor as they stared at Jackie and the other woman.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jackie demanded angrily at them.

"I'm not sure." Her mother stuttered.

"Cut the bull, what's going on?" Jackie said again.

There was certainly something that they had neglected to tell her.

"Ok Jackie, there is something we have to tell you, clearly we should have done it a long time ago."

"Obviously." Jackie stated.

"You are adopted."

"What? No I'm not, I have dad's eyes." She blurted as she looked at her father.

"It's true Jackie, we adopted you when you were just two days old." Her father said, barely able to look her in the eye.

Jackie's eyes filled with tears, she felt like her entire life had been a lie, nothing made any sense.

"Look Jackie, you are our little girl, you always have been, as soon as you were able to leave the hospital you came home with us." Her mom said as tears were now streaming down her face as well.

"Who was my birth mom and why did she give me up?"

"You're birth mother was a teenager when she got pregnant, your birth father left her as soon as he found out she was pregnant. She told us that giving you up was the hardest thing she had ever done but she knew she couldn't give you the life you deserved."

"I don't even know what to say, I feel so unwanted, so unloved right now." Jackie said as she went over to Nick, her marriage and her children were the only part of her life that seemed real at the moment.

"Listen to me, do not ever feel that way, you were more loved and wanted then most children because we had wanted a baby for so long. Your father and I tried for four years to get pregnant and when we couldn't we decided to adopt a baby. We had to wait two more years with the adoption agency before we were selected by someone, when your birth mother picked us to be your parents it was the best day of our lives, and your birth mother loved you too, she loved you enough to make the ultimate sacrifice-giving up her own child. You're a mother now, imagine how hard it would be to give up one of your children, even if you knew they deserved more than you could give them."

"What was my birth mother's name?" Jackie squeaked, as she let what her mother was telling her sink in. She knew her mom was right, giving up your child would be absolutely heartbreaking, as she glanced at her own four children, she couldn't imagine ever giving one of them up for adoption.

"Her name was Ann, we had what is called an open adoption with her meaning we kept in contact with her, we'd even send her pictures of you, she honestly did love you very much. The reason we didn't tell you about being adopted is because we didn't want you to feel like you weren't our child, you were, and are our little girl, you always have been and always will be."

"I'd like to meet my birth mother one day."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible Jackie, she died in a car accident when you were four, I'm sorry." Her dad said.

Jackie took a deep breath, this was all so overwhelming.

A realization suddenly hit Jackie "Oh my god, that's why when dad got cancer and needed a transplant you wouldn't let me get tested to see if I was a match, you didn't want me to find out I wasn't his, all that crap about children likely not being a match was a bunch of garbage wasn't it?"

"No, that part was true. It was true that we didn't want you to find out that you were adopted but it was also true that children usually aren't a match." Her mom said.

Jackie's mom then turned to the other woman "We had absolutely no idea she had twins, we would have gladly taken you too, we would have been thrilled to be given two little girls, and I truly mean that. My guess is that Ann didn't want to tell us she was having twins because she was afraid we'd back out and not take either of you, so instead of telling us, she just found two couples to take one baby apiece. We never had any reason to think there were two of you, although now looking back on it she didn't want us in the delivery room, I found that somewhat odd but I was so grateful to her for giving us her baby I didn't question why she didn't want us in there, now I know why, I truly hope you had nice parents."

"I did, my parents are incredible, I'm truly blessed to call them my parents."

"I'd like to meet them one day." Jackie's mother said.

"Ok, I'm sure they'd like that."

"I didn't catch your name." Jackie's mom said.

"My name is Carissa, and just so you don't feel bad Jackie, I'm sure my parents didn't know about you either or they would have taken you too."

"Thank you." Jackie said managing a smile, her head still spinning.

"I don't mean to be rude but can I have a couple minutes alone, I just want to think." Jackie requested.

"Sure." Everyone responded.

Nick led her to the break room.

"You know honey, I know this is all a huge shock, but think about it, it's actually a great thing for you."

Jackie looked at Nick like he had eight heads.

"I'm serious, think about it, you didn't lose anything, just because your parents are not your biological parents doesn't make them any less your parents, they have loved you more than anything your entire life, and nothing about what has happened today has changed that. To top that off you gained the one thing you have always longed for, you got a sister, a sister who seems like a very nice person. A sister who seems like she'd be very open to having a relationship with you, don't waste that opportunity."

Nick stopped talking, he gave her a kiss on the cheek before turning to leave the room.

Just before he walked out he looked back at her and said "Think about what I just said." before he turned and left the room.


	5. Chapter 5

"Nick's right." Jackie said out loud to herself.

She took a deep breath and walked out of the break room to rejoin everyone else. When Nick saw her he walked over to her.

"You ok?" He whispered in her ear.

"Yeah." She said.

She looked around at her kids.

Houston was gripping Jackie's mom's hand and Johnna held her dad's. Karlie was sleeping peacefully in her car seat which sat on the floor right by Nick's foot.

"Where's Jasmine?" Jackie asked in a panic as she scanned the area and noticed the child was gone.

Everyone looked around frantically but luckily she was found quickly.

Jasmine had made herself right at home in her_ new mommy's _lap.

"Petty mama." She said sweetly as she gently ran her fingers through Carissa's red hair.

"Thank you." Carissa said with a smile.

"Jazz, no no sweetie." Nick said as he went over to Carissa and took Jasmine off of her lap.

"I'm sorry." Nick said apologetically to the surprised looking woman.

"That's alright, she's just as confused as everyone else." Carissa said with a laugh.

Jasmine gave Nick a dirty look.

"No mama lap dada?" she asked.

"Honey she's not your mama, she's, she's, your…" Nick stuttered, unsure what to say.

"She's your aunt Jazz." Jackie said, finishing Nick's sentence for him.

Nick looked over at Jackie and gave her a huge smile. He knew she'd come around but he didn't think she would come around this quickly. Nick set Jasmine back down on the ground.

She walked right back over to Carissa.

"No mama." She said as pointed her finger accusingly at her.

Everyone laughed.

Jasmine then walked over to Jackie.

"Mama." Jasmine said as she put her arms in the air, indicating that she wanted Jackie to pick her up.

Jackie happily obliged as she picked her up.

"Mama." Jasmine repeated.

"Yes sweetheart." Jackie told her with a smile.

Houston let go of his grandmother's hand and toddled over to Carissa. He put his arms in the air.

"May I Jackie?" Carissa asked.

Jackie smiled and nodded yes so Carissa picked up the sweet smiling little boy.

"Tanta?" Houston asked happily.

Everyone burst out laughing.

"That's not Santa Klaus you silly goose." Nick told his son.

Houston immediately crawled off of Carissa's lap appearing very disappointed by that news

"How about you cutie pie, do you want to come say hi to me?" Carissa asked as she smiled at Johnna.

"No, no." Johnna said as she ducked behind her grandpa's leg, trying to hide.

Carissa frowned slightly.

"Don't feel bad, she takes a while to warm up to people but once she does she's their best friend." Jackie told her so Carissa wouldn't have hurt feelings.

"Kids usually like me right away which is good considering I am a teacher." Carissa said.

"You're a teacher, what grade do you teach?" Jackie asked.

"First."

Jackie's mouth dropped open.

"What school?" Jackie asked.

"Canton Elementary. Why?" Carissa asked.

"Because I'm a first grade teacher too, at Kent Elementary."

"Wow that is too eerie." Carissa said.

"No kidding." Jackie agreed.

Carissa's mouth dropped open a couple seconds later as she remembered something.

"Jackie, do you remember how in February the teacher's at Canton Elementary were suppose to get together with the teachers at Kent Elementary to discuss how to best teach the new math objectives but at the last minute it was canceled?"

"Yeah, and instead the teachers just met with their teaching partners from their own schools. We could have met then, boy would that have been a shock."

"Yeah, no kidding, I wish that meeting wouldn't have been canceled. Not only would we have gotten to meet sooner but it would have saved me from having to work with my teaching partner all afternoon, that was like torture."

"Why, don't you like your teaching partner?" Jackie asked with a laugh.

"No, she is a mean old woman, she's mean to everyone, especially her students, I feel sorry for them."

"Yikes, that is too bad, poor kids."

"Yeah no kidding, do you like your teaching partner?" Carissa asked.

"I have two teaching partners actually and I love both of them, they are both amazing teachers, and people, they are also two of my closest friends, I am very fortunate, not only do I love my teaching partners but I love every single staff member at my school, it is truly a great place to work. I'm sorry you don't like your teaching partner, that would be very hard." Jackie said.

"It's not so bad, I like everyone else at the school, I just don't like her."

"Well that's good at least."

"Yeah it makes it a little easier." Carissa said and then glanced at her watch.

"Jackie, I'm sorry but I have to get going, thanks again so much for getting my ring back to me, and listen, I don't know how you feel about what has gone on today but I'd like to get to know you, and your family better."

"I'd like that." Jackie said without a second's hesitation.

"Great, let's exchange numbers and we'll get together for lunch, or maybe coffee, do you like coffee?" She asked.

Nick burst out laughing. "Oh yeah, they're twins alright." He said.

Jackie laughed too. "Yes, I do."

"Ok, then we'll meet up for coffee soon."

"Sounds good to me." Jackie agreed.

With one last smile and one last wave Carissa disappeared through the lab doors.

"You sure you're ok?" Nick asked as he gently wrapped his arm around Jackie.

"Yeah, I'm still shocked but you were right about what you said, I didn't lose anything, instead I gained something I've always wanted. Hopefully over time Carissa and I can become very close like my friends and their sisters are."

"Yes, that would be very nice." Nick agreed with a smile.

"Nick, could you do us a favor and give Rich and I a couple minutes alone with Jackie please?" Her mom asked.

"Sure, come on kids, let's go to the vending machine and get a snack." He told them as he picked up Karlie's car seat.

After Nick had disappeared down the hall with the kids Jackie's mom turned to Jackie.

"I'm so sorry about all of this, we should have just been honest with you from the beginning, I guess we never thought of you as being adopted, you were our daughter from day one, it didn't matter that we didn't share DNA, but I am sorry and I hope you can forgive us."

"Forgive you for what? For being incredible parents? For always being there for me no matter what? For helping me become the woman I am today? For uprooting your lives so you could move to Vegas when I got married so we could still see each other all the time? Or for being awesome grandparents to my kids?"

Her parents wrapped her in a hug.

"We love you Jackie." Her dad said.

"I love you guys too." Jackie said as tears began to run down all of their faces.

"I was so scared you'd turn your back on us and never speak to us again, and as scared as I was to lose you I was even more heartbroken that I'd lose those four little ones." Her mom said.

"You want to be close to those little stinkers?" Jackie quipped jokingly.

Her mom burst out laughing.

"Shocking isn't it?"

Jackie's face turned more serious. "I'd never rip you guys away from those kids, I wouldn't do that to you and I certainly couldn't do that to them, they adore you." Jackie assured them with a smile.

Just then they heard the sound of a baby's cry.

"Uh-oh, it sounds like Karlie is hungry and Nicky forgot the diaper bag out here, I better go give it to him." Jackie said.

"Ok, we'll go home then, maybe we can take the kids to the park later?" Her mom suggested.

"Yeah that sounds good, I promised Tina I'd watch Eli this afternoon and I'm sure he'd like to go to the park, and my kids always like to go there."

"Ok, call us this afternoon and tell us what time you want to go." Her mom told her.

"Ok I will, see you guys later."

Jackie watched as her parents left and then grabbed the diaper bag and walked down the hall with it.

"I ceem." Jackie heard Houston say as she walked into the break room with the diaper bag in her hand.

"Houston they don't have ice cream in the vending machine." Nick told him sounding somewhat frustrated.

"Mama." Jasmine said as she pointed at Jackie.

Nick spun his chair around so he was facing Jackie.

"Are you alright?" He asked her.

She smiled at him.

"I'm just fine." She assured him as she got Karlie's bottle out of the diaper bag.

She quickly made the bottle and then handed it to Nick who hurriedly stuck it in Karlie's mouth. The baby immediately quit crying.

"There all better." Nick said soothingly to the tiny infant.

Karlie finished her bottle while the other kids finished their cookies that Nick had bought them from the vending machine.

After they were all done the family headed home.

It had been a very strange and shocking day for Jackie but she hoped today was the beginning of a wonderful new friendship with her surprise twin sister.

**The End!**


End file.
